As 2025 has started off, we’ve seen some intriguing headlines such as, “Donald Trump Sworn In For Second Time”, “Raging Wildfires Wipe Out Southern California,” and “Wind Energy Projects Suspended in U.S.” But one headline I thought I wouldn’t have to see would be “71 Killed in Two Plane Crashes in Two Days.”
For years, we’ve been fed a message that says “Air is the safest way to travel,” and for years we’ve believed it. Meanwhile, thousands of lives have been lost in accidents and crashes caused by these large metal birds called “airplanes.” And, yes, I know there are more car crashes than plane crashes every year, and more people die in car wrecks. But there’s a bigger loss of life and more tragedy surrounding a plane crash when something that weighs thousands of pounds and holds hundreds of people slams into the ground with no idea what happened.
On January 29, 2025, while on final approach to the Ronald Reagan Airport in Washington, D.C., a passenger jet collided with a Black Hawk helicopter, resulting in the deaths of 64 on the plane, and 3 on the plane. The plane, American Eagle Flight 5342, coming from a Kansas airport, carrying 64 people, 60 passengers and four crew members, was coming in for landing at around 325 feet when it was struck. According to the black box in the Black Hawk, the helicopter was only flying at 200 feet. How is this possible? The black boxes in each craft had them flying 125 feet apart in altitude.
Recordings even have ATC Tower conversations between the airplane and helicopter. ATC did alert Flight 5342 that there was another aircraft in the area, but by the time the pilots on both aircraft were aware for sure, it was too late. This should never be the case. The helicopter was on a yearly evaluation flight for that pilot, and ended with her death. This disaster was the first mid-air collision for a passenger plane in the U.S. since 1986.
Two days later in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Med Jets Flight 056, a medical flight from Philadelphia to Tijuana, crashed just 40 seconds after takeoff, killing six on board and one on the ground. The plane had just taken off, and quickly climbed to 1,650 feet, before quickly plummeting to the ground at an estimated 278 miles per hour. Local witnesses said it looked “like a gas station exploded.” How could this jet just fall?
And to top off the tragedy, these events have to be made political. Because that’s all we can do in this country right? Just blame others? After both crashes happened, President Trump and the Democrat Party engaged in their usual social media wars because it’s always either President Trump who’s the victim, or the Democrats have to play victim. Hello? Washington? Yeah, we’ve just seen 74 people die in two plane crashes in two days. Think you can tune down the political tantrums? No one cares if it’s DEI’s fault, or Trump’s fault, or the Democrat’s fault. Let’s deal with the families who are left to remember their loved ones. Show some human decency.
Are we still being told planes are super safe? Heck, even on Saturday, February 1, a plane was taxiing on the runway in Houston, Texas, when one of its engines caught fire. This is not good. 2025 has started off roughly for airline travel and something has to change. Are we just supposed to sit back and say, “Yeah that’ll never happen to me.”